Ohio State Coaches Hit the Road During Spring Evaluation Period

Last Monday marked the beginning of a very important phase of college football’s recruiting calendar, the Spring Evaluation Period.

This six-week stretch — which runs through the end of May — allows college coaches to hit the road and check on prospects all over the country. They're able to meet with high school coaches and administrators and watch practices, workout sessions and individual drills.

There are several rules and regulations the staff has to follow, though:

Each program has a total of 168 evaluation opportunities during this time period. Every day an assistant is on the road counts as one opportunity, whether he visits 10 schools or just one. However, if offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day — for example — is at Houston St. Pius X to check on four-star quarterback target Grant Gunnell on the same day that defensive line coach Larry Johnson is at Olentangy Orange to watch five-star defensive end target Zach Harrison work out, the Buckeyes will have used two evaluation opportunities.
When coaches visit a prospect’s high school, they are not allowed to have face-to-face contact with a recruit or their parents or visit their home. They can have “incidental contact” where they just so happen to bump into one another in the hallway and exchange a brief greeting, though.
Coaches are only allowed to visit a prospect on just two separate occasions — once for academic reasons, like checking on grades or meeting with a guidance counselor, and the other to watch him practice, work out or compete in another athletic event. There is a loophole that enables two athletic evaluations, however. For example, if co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch wanted to see transcripts for Georgia four-star safety Jaylen McCollough and then sticks around for practice that afternoon, it counts as just one “academic” visit and he’ll be able to return and watch another practice or work out later in the evaluation period.
Assistants are required to take Sunday off. Head coaches, meanwhile, are not allowed off campus at all for recruiting purposes during the Spring Evaluation Period.

As you might expect, this is the time of year where Ohio State’s top targets will truly begin to come into focus.

While the past few months have been about identifying prospects through film and building relationships with them during campus visits, the shoe is now on the other foot. The evaluation period is often the first time the staff gets a live look at a player — especially those from out of state — and they’ll be able to adjust their priority chart appropriately.

At certain positions, the staff has already honed in on their top targets. And in those cases, they’ll simply spend a few hours with the prospect’s coach to remind the recruit how important he is and how much the Buckeyes are interested.

With the introduction of spring official visits, this evaluation period has become just as vital to the recruiting process as any other contact period. It not only gives coaches a chance to see prospects perform in person before making any final judgements on their abilities, but may also help sway a recruit’s looming decision.

In fact, Ohio State is expected to send coaches to Texas early next week to coincide with a planned announcement from Austin Lake Travis four-star wide receiver Garrett Wilson. He took an official visit to Columbus for the Spring Game, and the only thing standing in the way of his pledge may be a trip to see the Longhorns this weekend.

That small show of affection could very well negate any progress Texas might make during his official visit and put the finishing touches on Wilson’s commitment.

Once the period comes to a close, in-person evaluations will scale back considerably. Programs are allowed to spend just 10 days in June and July conducting on-campus or satellite camps, so the next five weeks will be extremely important as the Buckeyes look to piece together their Dynasty ‘19 recruiting class.